Method of building commutators.



v v. 6. APPLE. METHOD OF BUILDING COMMUTATORS.

APPLICATION FILE D JAN-22.1911- Patemed Mar. 12, 1918.

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VINCENT G. AIPLE, 0F DAYTON, OHIO.

METHOD OF BUILDING COMMUTATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

Application filed January 22, 1917. Serial No. 148,880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VINCENT G. APPLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Commutators, of which the following 1s a specification.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a new, useful and economical method of building commutators for armatures of dynamo electric machines.

Other and further objects of my invention will become readily apparent, to persons skilled in the art, from a consideration of the followin description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a fragment of an armature with the conductor terminals paired at each end, disclosing the integral, finished commutator at one end and the terminals at the other end, about to be welded together. The rear end is a section taken on line 11 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the rear end.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section showing a single pair of terminals located between adjacent spacing bars.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of two rear terminals as they appear when swaged and welded together.

Fig. 5 is' a section Fig. 6.

Fig. Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a commutator segment and attached conductors.

Fig. 8 is a' water bosh for conveying the excessive heat away from the armature.

In all the views the same reference characters are employed to indicate similar parts.

Commutators, when properly constructed,

taken on line 5-5 of 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of are usually as durable or of as long life as the armature with which they are associated. The modern dynamo produces very sparking between the brushes little, if any, and the commutator and the modern brushes are of such improved character as to wear the commutator but veryslightly after long periods of use. Therefore it is highly practical and consistent with good practice to build the commutator as substantially an integral lnseparable art of the armature.

In carrying the ollowing disclosed inventlon into effect I leave the armature terminals more than usually long; provide die forms, substantially the shape ofthe commutator segment, to be made by my new method of operation, and-apply heat to the conductor terminal .ends and compress or otherwise force or swage the metal, made soft by the application of heat, into the dies, thereby to upset the terminal ends of the conductors so as to form commutator segments of the proper shape and size. Or I may melt other suitable metal and flow it around the conductor or terminal ends, within the temporary molds or dies so as to form the commutator segments in this manner.

I may employ the same method of welding together the rear ends of the commutator bars when the armature conductors consist of bars, instead of the ordinary two conductor loops or coils of a greater number of turns.

In the particular, illustrated embodiment, 10 is the core of an armature, provided with two circumferentially extending series of conductors 11 and 12 supported thereon. These conductors, preferably after being placed, are bent at their terminals in circumferentially extending planes, rearwardly and forwardly to appropriate locations where they are joined in proper pairs. The conductors 12 lie in substantially, and preferably, the same radial plane as the conductors l1. E-provide a ring support 13, of non-weldable material or metal, such as nichrome, or the like, and which is more refractory to the softening effect of heat than are the copper conductors and this ring I place upon the shaft ll immediately under the series of conductor terminals. The ring is provided with an annular, radial flange 15, having radially-extending, spaced-apart grooves 16, for the T-shaped separators 17. I place a two part ring 18, of similar material, immediately in the rear of the separators 17 and over the conductor terminals. Copper, or other like material, of which the commutator is to be made, is held near and immediately over the die openings 19, on either side of the conductors 11 and 12, and

' melted bythe electric arc, the oxo-acetylene flame, or other source f heat, causing it to run down into the die spaces 19, on either side of the conductors, cohere and unite with the conductors. The metal or other material 17 is substantially non-oxidizable and non-weldable and not adapted to cohere or stick to the rings or separators. The melted metal of which the commutator sections are built up should fill up the die spaces 19 and project radiall slightly therebeyond and before it entire cools should be swaged or hammered, by the use of the proper instruments, such as a hammer, or the like, to compact the metal around and unite it with the conductors and within dies thus formed by the rings and respective separators. While the commutator is being thus formed,

. by the application of heat, and impact, the

armature may be kept cool by a draft of impinging air or by being placed in a water receptacle, containing the desired quantity of water, for carrying the undesirable heat away from the armature.

After the commutator has been made, in the manner described, the armature, with the commutator attached may be placed in a lathe and the upper commutator surface may beturned ofl' smoothly before or after the separators have been removed. After the separators have been removed, insulation plates 20 may be placed in the spaces leftby the separators 17 between and cemented to the commutator sections 21.

The rear ends of the bar conductors may be joined together by applying heat to the axially extending terminal ends 23, sufficiently to melt or soften these ends, afterwhich they may be upset into the spaces 24 provided between the separators 25, that are inserted in the rings in the same manner as heretofore described. In weldin and upsetting the terminal ends, in or er to join the respective conductors at the rear end of the armature, I employ a ring 13 which is similar in general character to the ring 13, and another ring 26, the latter having spaces within which to insert the separators 25, and the former having depressions within which to insert the inner ends of the separators 25 to hold the two rings in register and to provide spaces 27 between the separators, within which to contain the copper that is upset from the extended ends 23 of the conductors, as shown in Fig. 3.

30 shows a tank for containing water 31 within which to insert the armature 10. The armature is raised to the desired height by a block 32 upon which it rests. A battery B, which diagrammatically represents a source of electric current, is connected by a switch 32 and a wire 33 with the tank 30.

The battery is also connected by a wire 34 with an electrode 35, which may be attached to the terminals 23 to melt or soften them so that they will fill the die spaces 27 provided between the spacers 25. A wire 36 may also connect the tank with the ring 26 so as to complete the circuit from the source of electric current to the terminal ends 23.

In Fig. 8 I have shown only one way in which the heat may be applied to the terminals 23 to melt or soften them so that the excessive copper thus produced may be swaged around the ends, or welded to the terminals of the conducting bars 11 and 12.

While I have herein shown a single embodiment for the purpose of clear disclosure, it is manifest that many changes may be made in the general arrangement and selection of the parts within the scope of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. Steps in a method of uniting armature terminals which consists in pairing the terminals; separating each pair of terminals from adjacent terminals; heating each pair of terminal ends and compactin the heated ends to weld them together whi e separated from other terminals.

2. Steps in the method described for connecting armature conductors together, which consists in bending the conductors to associate them in pairs; locating the pairs in consecutive order; preparing dies around each pair of conductors; heating the conductors and swaging or upsetting conductlng metal, of which the conductors constitute a part, into said dies, to weld the conductors together.

3. Steps in the method described for connecting terminals of armature conductors together to form a commutator, which consists in bending the conductors to associate them in pairs; locating the pairs in consecutive order; preparing dies around each pair of conductor-ter minals; heating the terminals and compacting conducting metal, of which the respective terminals constitute a part into said dies to form commutator segments.

4:. Steps in the method described for connecting terminals of armature conductors together to form a commutator, which consists in bending the conductors to associate them in pairs; locating the pairs in consecutive order; preparing dies around each pair of conductor terminals; heating the terminals and compacting conducting metal, of which the terminals constitute parts into said dies to form commutator segments; removing the dies and placing insulating separators between said segments.

5. Steps in the method described for connecting terminals of armature conductors form commutator segments and supporting 10 said segments in insulated relation.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VINCENT G. APPLE. In the presence of- F. W. COTTERMAN,

E. V. MARTIN. 

